Bath towels, beach towels, washcloths or the like are typically produced from fabric that is stored in roll form on a spool. The fabric is unrolled from the spool in a machine direction, cut into sections, and bonded in the machine direction and a cross direction to form at least partially finished products.
The web is sometimes formed using fabric from multiple spools, such that the web is made up of multiple layers of material that must be bonded together. As used herein, the term “layer” when used in a singular form may refer to a single layer element or multiple layer elements.
In some processes, the web is bonded in the machine direction (often manually) and then cut into sections, so that the cut edges of the sections can be manually bonded in the cross direction. In other processes, the web is cut into sections without any type of bonding, such that each section must be manually bonded in both the machine and cross directions.
As used herein, the term “machine direction” refers to along the length of a material, fabric, or web, in the direction in which it moves as it is produced. The terms “cross-machine direction” or “cross direction” refer to along the width of a material, fabric, or web (i.e., a direction generally perpendicular to the machine direction).
The labor associated with manually bonding the web or web sections adds unwanted production costs, especially bonding in the cross direction. Bonding in the cross direction is cumbersome, because the web must be cut into sections, and then each of the sections maneuvered to permit access to the cut edges for manual bonding in the cross direction.
The web and/or cut out web sections are typically bonded near the perimeter. In some processes, interior areas of the web or web sections are manually bonded for stability and/or decorative effect. The edges of the web are also often folded over and manually bonded to form hems along the web edges. Forming hems along the cut edges of web sections is even more problematic because of the work required to manipulate the cut web sections for folding and then bonding.
There is a need for an apparatus, seaming assembly and method that effectively places seams in a continuously moving web of fabric in a cross direction, or in both machine and cross directions. The apparatus, seaming assembly and method should make it less expensive to produce bath towels, beach towels, washcloths or the like by efficiently bonding portions of a web that is formed from at least one spool of fabric.